


Post-, by Post

by Revieloutionne



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo
Genre: F/M, almost entirely epistolary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-01 23:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13305855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revieloutionne/pseuds/Revieloutionne
Summary: Billy keeps in touch with Kim after she loses her powers.And then afterheloseshis.





	Post-, by Post

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AceQueenKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/gifts).



Dear Kimberly,

Angel Grove hasn't been the same since you left. Strictly speaking, every monster attack turns it into a different place due to the property damage, but I'm sure you understand what I mean.

I hope your training is going well, and that you have made new friends. Is the mall there good? I'm sure you're doing fine expressing yourself even if you don't have access to the latest fashions but I still hope you aren't suffering their absence.

I keep reminding Tommy to write, but the way he seems embarrassed when I do implies he may be forgetting to. (Confidentially, Tommy's whole _existence_ implies that he may be forgetting to. He's a good guy and a good friend, but he'd forget his own head if it weren't attached.) I thought I should write a letter myself, just in case, because I don't want you thinking we've forgotten you. We very much haven't.

I have never been in the habit of writing letters, and find myself unsure how to hold such a one-sided conversation. I don't want to be a bore, so I suppose I'll stop here and let you ask what you'd like to know about life in Angel Grove these days and I'll write about it next time.

Your friend,

Billy

PS: I have access to electronic mail thanks to my father's work at the university. If I recall correctly, your training facility also belongs to one, in which case you may be able to set up an address of your own and we could communicate much faster. If you are able to, you can send me E-mail at cranstw@ucag.edu .

 

***

 

Dear Billy,

I think I've done this correctly? I'm not, like,  _bad_ with computers (I mean, not anymore. I'm still sorry about blowing yours up when I was you! Don't think I've forgotten my promise to pay you back for fixing it just because you won't tell me how much it cost!), but this is entirely new to me so I'm crossing my fingers and doing my best to follow the librarian's instructions.

I'm sending a letter with my responses just in case, but let me know if I did this right so we can use E-mail instead once you get it.

-Kim

 

***

 

Kimberly-

I have received your E-mail, and shall send my reply to your letter (which I eagerly await) electronically.

-Billy

 

***

 

Dear Billy,

Okay! I'll hear from you then. So you know, I can't make it to the library to check my E-mail inbox every day, but you will still have a quicker response than if I sent a paper letter.

-Kim

 

***

 

Dear Billy,

Training has been _hard_. Rewarding, but I haven't spent this much time on one thing, like, ever, and it's a big adjustment to make. All the girls here have been training this seriously for sooooo much longer than I have and we get along but I still feel super like an outsider. I haven't been here that long so I'm sure it will change, but right now it's a little bit terrible.

Speaking of terrible, the _shopping_. They only have strip malls here! Nobody knows what a food court is, and if you want to do any proper comparisons of sales and available clothes you have to drive to at _least_ three different places and I don't have my own car, so I have to inconvenience someone else if I want to try. If I had known this is what I was sacrificing to chase my dreams, I still would have done it but it wouldn't have been such a terrible surprise.

You're right, Tommy hasn't written.

How is everyone? Is Kat fitting in? And I mean like as a person, not just “on the team.” Has Ernie started charging for food yet?

I miss you all, but it's worth it. I totally understand why Jason, Zack, and Trini stayed to help organize more peace conferences. When you find the thing that you were meant to do it makes even the crappy days at least a bit rewarding.

-Kim

 

***

 

Kim-

I've received your letter and I am so sorry to hear about the state of shopping out there. I'm sure you don't have much spare time, so all that travel must eat up a lot of it. I'm sure you've found other hobbies to enjoy, but that must have been such a disappointment.

On a scale of one to “Tommy not writing” where would you rank it? I've given him another gentle nudge, but it's probably no use. I'm upset enough I could probably sit him down with a pen and paper and not let him do anything until he'd written something, but in all honesty part of me is ready to see him face a consequence for once. (I hate that it would involve upsetting you, so I haven't given up on nudging, but I am resolute in believing that he motivate himself to do this or else the gesture will ring hollow.)

Kat is fitting in fantastically! She already has friends outside “the team” and has found extracurricular activities she enjoys. It seems like she's still working through her guilt sometimes, but she isn't letting it get in the way of having a life and I think that's all we could hope for so soon.

Aisha is still her effervescent self. She misses her bestie and sends hugs, as though you aren't already getting them in your letters from _her_. She thinks she may be able to use her mother's E-mail, so I have passed your address along, but she's not certain yet.

Adam and Rocky remain themselves. It's not that they don't miss you, but I don't think it's insulting to acknowledge that they weren't as close to you as the rest of us. Adam's been busy keeping his karate students from blabbing to Tommy that they have a new favorite teacher and Rocky's been a credible threat to my place as head of the class in Advanced Mathematics.

Our “coach” remains as emotionally inscrutable as ever, but the “assistant coach” was as much of a mess after you left as you might have expected. I think talking him through his feelings was the best way to get through mine though, so it was sort of a blessing in disguise.

Ernie still does not seem to understand what currency is, despite the register that has been sitting on that counter for years. Someday I'll find out what organization has been donating to keep that place running and make a significant contribution. I've tried asking around, but nobody has had any idea.

I don't know what life is like out there the way you know about all of us here, so I don't have questions to fire off like you did. Let me know what your average day is like, I suppose? And how you're doing at any competitions of course. What's it like being an Angel Grover out in the rest of the world? Do your teammates have questions about monster attacks and all that? If they do, how are you pretending to know what it's like to observe rather than participate?

I suppose I _did_ have questions.

-Billy

 

***

 

***

 

***

 

***

 

Kim-

A lot has happened and I don't know how much has spread to the outside world yet but Rita and Zedd seem to be gone and there's a Machine Empire attacking now and a “new” team of Power Rangers.

A team of _five_ Power Rangers.

I tried talking to Tommy about what it's like to lose your place on the team, but he seems determined to pretend that never happened. I really need to talk to someone who's been through this.

I believe I've found a way to tap our communicators into the cellular telephone networks. I invented them in the first place, so this wouldn't be using the power for personal gain.

The actual rewiring is simple enough I believe you could accomplish it with nothing more than clear instructions and a visit to Radio Shack for tools and a part.

You'll need to buy a […] and then the cover should snap back in place.

I've tested this locally and it works; I hope it is able to communicate cross-country because I believe E-mail is an insufficiently close form of contact for the talking I need to do, and I don't wish to saddle you or my father with unnecessary long-distance charges, and you're the only person I know who's had time to (healthily) move on from the team.

Even if this works though, Aisha's still out in _Africa_ , so she may not even be _near_ a cell network. I have no idea, because Zordon wasn't any more specific about where she is now than _an entire continent_ , and I have too much else to do right now to try tracking her down more specifically, because Zordon has decided that his way of making up for my loss is to have me _build entire zords –_ which don't get me wrong is _fascinating –_ and I don't think he remembers that I don't have the capacity for continuous work that Alpha does.

I'm sorry, I'm dumping a lot on you. Try upgrading your communicator and get back to me either way?

-Billy

 

***

 

Billy-

I'm working on the communicator but what do you mean, AISHA IS IN AFRICA???

-Kim

 

***

 

K-

Long story; time travel, crystals, magic... too much for an email and I spoke too openly of “team” matters in the last. If the communicator upgrade doesn't work, I'll write by hand.

-B

 

***

 

Billy-

It turns out she wrote already; intercontinental mail takes time. If you can be free at 5 tonight your time I'm ready to test the communicators.

-Kim

 

***

 

***

 

***

 

Kim-

I know we've been speaking entirely on communicators lately, but this is a strange situation and I think being able to gather my words and edit them is beneficial.

First of all: I know you initiated it, but my condolences on your breakup regardless. It can't have been an easy decision.

Second: You never mentioned this guy you met in any of our conversations, so I have a slight suspicion he may not be real. If he is, congratulations! You deserve anything and anyone who brings you happiness. If he isn't... I'm going to save that thought for another time, actually, but if he is you know you could tell me so in complete confidence, because I do think that believing you're happy with someone else is helping Tommy cope.

Third: You get three guesses who wore a sweater with a red star on it the day after your letter arrived and the first two don't count. Other than that, she's wisely keeping her distance entirely friendly, but that wardrobe choice was definitely what I believe I have heard referred to as a “power move.”

I'm happy to continue our conversations via communicator; feel free to pretend this E-mail never arrived, if you wish.

-Billy

 

***

 

Kim set down the letter from Adam. He didn't write often, but he did like keeping her abreast of major events, and even though he never said so she got the sense that he worried he was the only one still in contact with her.

And in this case, he _was_. Billy hadn't said a single word about aging or Aquitar or...

It didn't add up, she thought, picking up her communicator, muscle memory effortlessly repeating the sequence of buttons that contacted Billy's.

“I take it you've heard?” Billy's voice asked from her palm.

“That Aquitar has cellular reception?” Kim replied. “I hadn't, but apparently-”

“I figured you'd catch me,” Billy said.

“I know you too well,” Kim said. “Deathly afraid of fish and living underwater forever?”

“I conquered that-”

“You gathered the courage to act in spite of it, you mean?” Kim said, smiling. “A fear that big doesn't disappear in one afternoon.”

“Indeed I may have chosen to recuperate in a room without windows,” Billy said.

“But you _have_ recuperated and are back on Earth?” Kim asked.

“Affirmative.”

“And Cestria...?”

“Does not exist.”

“I see,” Kim said. “You learn that trick from anyone in particular, or...?”

“Are you finally admitting there was no other guy?” Billy asked.

“Weeeeelllll,” Kim said, “it's complicated.”

“How so?”

“You see,” Kim said, “there was no other guy in _Florida_.”

“I don't think I see,” Billy said, “but continue.”

“I also did not _meet_ any other guy after leaving Angel Grove.”

“I hear a 'but' coming, but I admit I haven't any clue what it might be.”

“ _But_ ,” Kim said, relishing the pause afterward, “there might be another guy who I had met _before_ leaving Angel Grove.”

“YOU CHEATED ON TOMMY?” Billy said, briefly blowing out the speaker on the communicator before it auto-adjusted the volume.

“What? No!” Kim said. “No! Billy-”

“How could you-”

“I would _never_ -”

“I thought you were better than-”

“Billy I'm talking about _you._ ”

“I'm so diss... what?”

“ _You're_ the other guy, Billy,” Kim said. “I mean obviously we never dated, but after I came to Florida and you kept in touch and Tommy didn't and we had all those conversations... I mean, you know you were my rock outside the world of gymnastics, right?”

“Everyone's priorities in there are so terrible!” Billy said.

“And you kept my head on my shoulders about remembering that it was important _to me_ but there's a whole world besides it. And then you went through that rough patch after losing your powers and I realized how much I care about you and that I _didn't_ feel the same way about Tommy.”

“But you didn't-”

“I didn't talk to you about it because if you didn't feel the same way, it would hurt, and if you did but we had to stay separated, it would _also_ hurt – that it sort of _didn't_ hurt that I was so far from Tommy was part of everything I realized. But it wasn't enough to just not open up to you, it wasn't fair to keep stringing Tommy along. I didn't breaking up would hurt him very much since we basically weren't dating anymore anyway, but I guess he hadn't realized that.”

“I really don't think he realized how much time had actually passed since he last talked to you,” Billy said. “So you really want to give this a shot?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I have to,” Kim said. “But where are you?”

“Holed up at home for the time being,” Billy said. “Having some overdue conversations about what I've been up to with my dad, hiding from the other rangers, that kind of thing.”

“I don't know if I can do this from a distance, though,” Kim said.

“Well I've also been looking into colleges,” Billy said. “I told you when the high school kicked me out early with a diploma and you know – I don't mean this in a braggy way – you know I can get into any school I apply to.”

“You could probably go straight to grad school if you wanted,” Kim said.

“So I assume,” Billy said, “there have to be some good schools in Florida, right?”

 


End file.
